Founded in 1998, Google would work its way to be one of – if not the – top search engines on the World Wide Web. Carrying out more than one billion searches per day and branching out into offering many other services such as e-mail, cloud storage and map services, there are many unique components that go into making this seemingly simple engine work efficiently.
Data centers are the backbone of companies like Google. They are a physical space that companies use to house and operate communications, storage and servers. Specifically, Google utilizes several best practices to run these facilities that should be looked at closely when developing and running a data center. Let’s take a look at some of them below.
Multiple datacenters are utilized: In order to keep up with the traffic that Google deals with daily, the company implements multiple datacenters, most of which are larger than 300,000 square feet. And, many of these global data centers run 24/7.
Allow for appropriate power use: A Google data center uses around 103 megawatts of electricity.
Physical security measures are taken: The physical buildings that house the data centers are heavily reinforced with gates, multiple checkpoints, video monitoring, access logs and biometric devices.
Even more, in an effort to promote company transparency and promote energy efficiency, Google shares some best practices on its Website:
1. Measure PUE: This idea centers around measuring the effective use of power, specifically in non computing capacities.
2. Manage Airflow: Minimizing heat and circulation problems are central to efficient data center design.
3. Adjust the thermostat: Constantly monitoring thermostats and being aware of the necessary data center temperature is a key to efficiently utilizing energy.
Remember, amid the many call center solutions, software and options out on the market, it’s important to also learn about some data center best practices.